On Thanksgiving Day, 1988, the Soviets were trying to deal with violence in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Americans were flocking to the cinema to see Bill Murray in Scrooged!, and the Dallas Cowboys were losing to the Houston Oilers, 25-17, on their way to a 3-13 season. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the owner of a 1976 Porsche 911 Turbo – also known as the 930 – was calling police to report that the car had been stolen.

Now, nearly 23 years later, the car has been recovered, found in a container scheduled to be shipped from the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport to the Netherlands. The car was discovered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers after “targeting and examining” the container, a press release from the agency says.

The officers ran a check of the VIN in law enforcement databases, and found that the car has been reported stolen on November 24, 1988. Nevada law enforcement confirmed that the stolen record was still active. The 911 was then seized, and released to Nevada officials to be returned to the insurance company that currently holds the title.

The 930 is sitting a little high in the back; that’s because it’s missing its 3-liter flat six. Even without that vital piece of hardware, CBP estimates that the car is worth “approximately $27,552.” Apparently, one factor that led the authorities to open the container was the vehicle’s declared value of $12,552, which must have seemed a bit on the low side. Our book says that 930s in number 1 condition – which this one definitely is not – are worth a little over $55,000.

The 930 is one of 51 vehicles and 49 engines seized at Long Beach on their way out of the country between October 2010 and August 2011. Of those 100, 24 turned out to be stolen, 63 were undeclared, seven were undervalued and six had fraudulent documents.

51 Responses to “Customs seizes Porsche 911 reported stolen in 1988”

I bought a Porsche from a guy who got it back after it was stolen around 1970 or so. He had owned the Prosche and it got stolen one night in a parking deck. Fast forward to 2000 he gets a phone call saying they recovered a stolen Porsche he owned. They pulled a guy over in California and some how through running the vin it came back stolen. The car had been sold a few times over the years but never came up stolen. The guy had to pay the impound and shipping back to Maryland but was returned his car. At this point he was an elderly man and wasnt into sports cars so he sold it.

I currently have a stolen car report out for an Elva that was stolen from me a few years ago while I had it stored. Im hoping to have it returned to me someday.

Here’s a tip for all of you that have older vintage cars or any car that is near and dear to you (that would be anyone who is reading this blog) and don’t have an expensive tracker system on them. Get yourself a prepaid cell phone and hide it where you can turn it on when you think the car may be in a vulnerable place. If the car is stolen the cell phone can be tracked. I suggest you leave the ringer on mute in case someone dials that number by mistake. We wouldn’t want the thieves to hear it ringing now would we?

@Chuck — they didn’t say it had been in the container for 23 years, only that it had been recovered 23 years after it had been reported stolen. I wish we knew where it had been all this time. Driven? Hidden in a garage? Or something else?

Interesting, 100 out of 100. I wish I had a tenth of that success rate with equities.

It seems that with that high percentage of recaptures, the “aggressive” CBP would want to check EVERY shipment leaving port, but we’ll leave that speculation as to why they dont in the mind of the dear reader.

I’m guessing it’s because half of the country wants less government, and if they checked every shipping container they’d have to hire more agents, government employees, thereby creating an even bigger government. But, that’s just a guess..

Simply put, there aren’t enough resources! This is especially due to the sheer-volume of traffic and what resources are available are better directed towards counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics activities!

Nice to see a stolen car recovered, even after all these years. The funny thing is that the declared value was the reason that the canister was opened. However, $12,552 sounds about right as the value for a beat 930 with no engine and no title. I have bought and sold a number of these cars. The engine is by far the most valuable part.

One word: LoJack… my son lives in San Diego, a place filled with illegals who make their living stealing cars, and transporting said vehicles across the border. He was able to retrieve his Toyota 4Runner with luck and a homing device!

In recent years, metal storage containers are widely used for all sorts of purposes, including a hiding place for stolen cars. Thieves steal a car, drive it to their place(usually not far away), stash it until they send it to the nearest shipping port to be shipped out of the country. My advice, if you have a hotrod, classic car, antique, or any other unique car stolen, call law enforcement and have them check shipping containers at the nearest port right away.

If you “own” a stolen car and purchased it in good faith and it was registered by a state that runs the vin and comes back clean, and later is determined by another agency to be a stolen car and is taken from you, it would seem to me, the state that registered the car to you should be on the hook to you for compensation. I bought a stolen that the FBI came after and it turned out that the out of state dealer that temporarily released the car to the thief on a temproary registration was assigned the loss for not checking the thief”s phoney credentials and check before releasing the car to him. I got to keep the car and had fun hiding the car in the interim from the FBI. Quite an adventure but at the time a nightmare.

This is another reason to insure your car as soon as the transaction is completed. There are instances of ‘theft by deception’ where your auto insurance will cover the loss if you have to forfeit it after being the victim of a scam. Best to do all the checks up front though.

I very much love my cars! I care for them like members of our family. And…. i,m “licensed to carry”…..Lord help anyone who I catch messing with one of my cars! I can and will take you out…The same as I would , if someone touched any member of my family ! If it doesn,t belong to you,,,Hands off…..care to test me?

I think the prudent thing, for anyone with any sort of valuables is to keep one’s mouth shut and simply not broadcast it to the world!

In your case, you seem to be issuing a broad dare to the world and this is not wise. I’ve been burglarized before and it isn’t fun! While you think you may be up to the challenge, there’re devious folks out there that would make childs-play of people like you and I.

I liken the whole process to stepping on a land mine: you don’t even realize it until you hear the “click” and then, it is too late… So, be wise and keep your own councel and insure your goods, adequately!

Finally, if you’re so hell-bent on violence, enter into counseling and take it from me, a veteran, you’ve no business owning lethal weapons of any sort, with your general attitute!

Of course, as the gentleman above pointed out, you’re only justified in using lethal force only if your (or someone elses) life is directly threatened! Just because somebody walked into your living room, etc., with malice and thievery in his/her heart, this does not make for an open-season where you get to shoot the poor sob full of lead! If you do, then you end up with a “boy-friend” in prison; to whom you can tell all about your car collection, etc., etc.

I like to get all ‘Minority Report’ prescient with these type of things. I usually spend my free hours doling out justice as I see fit on people who might only be thinking about touching one of my cars. Last week I had to bust the kneecaps of a 13 year old who I’m pretty sure would’ve scratched my mint ’73 El Camino in with a shopping cart in the Pick-N-Sav parking lot in 2027. You don’t mess with the El…

If it was stolen here in my state (MO), on my property, our castle doctrine, will allow, me to defend my property. also on my business property. anyone willing to invade my property with the intent to steal something, is also capable of causing violent injury. many states do not have this basic level of private property protection, but then again, That’s why I no longer live in any of those states. There was a recent attempt to steal a car out of a driveway a few counties north of me, the suspect was shot and killed in the attempt, no charges filed, confirmed this exact scenario with the Sheriffs office a few months ago to confirm. if your state does not have a castle doctrine, harass your state reps to get it. without the right to protect your property, you really have no rights.

so noted… last summer i saw a guy looking at my 1984 ‘vette in a parking lot and i came up behind him and knee-capped him with a sawed off bat and smashed his face with a tire iron. turns out he was blind. The police chaged ME with felony assult, can you imagine that?! So unfair.

I really like my car I do not have a relationship with it like I have with my son. One is just a thing one is a person. Perhaps the fact that I honestly believe that there is a difference is why I find your vocalization of your gun fantasies to be both offensive and disturbing

Right you are, Rob. There was a 2nd Amendment nut here in NJ who went to jail for 25 years. Seems he saw two suspicious teens peering through the window of his neighbors car. Instead of grabbing his phone to call the police, he grabbed his gun and, without any warning. shot one of the kids to death, then went calmly into his house and told his curious wife “I heard a noise” He had no defense in court, he had no due cause to harm these kids, as he nor his house were not being physically threatened.

You would have thought that if they were pros that they would have changed the VIN number and gotten a good title. There are always stories in the news of corrupt DMV employees giving out phony tiltles.

Uh, “There are always stories in the news of corrupt DMV employees giving out phony tiltles” Where? This is the first I’ve heard of it. You should post factual data before you post comments like that. A link to a pertinent story please?

It happened at the DMV in Walnut Creek California 3-4 years ago. There were some convictions for falsification of documents. It made the local newspapers and I’m sure that the powers that be don’t want to bring any more attention than necessary.

A few years back, Mercedes-Benz introduced an ignition set-up that could not be “hot-wired” period! (The key issues a highly encrypted code and that code is re-set each time, by the cars computer(s,) etc.) Of course, while the typical car thieves lack any sort of high-tech training, they quickly figured out that they could find a dishonest Mercedes-Benz dealer parts guy and order a replacement key! Yet others would simply steal such a car with a flat-bed.

I think currently Mercedes-Benz uses the most sophisticated anti-theft ignition system in the world and GPS locating is also part of the equation (for those times when the car is stolen with a flat-bed truck or with a “stolen” replacement key.) Companies like Lexus and Cadillac too, have very sophisticated systems that are designed in the hopes of thwarting would-be thieves.

Unfortunately, the bad-guys always find ways around, even the most sophisticated technologies!

I suppose one could just “live” in one’s car! Or have it enshrined in ones home?!

I have a friend who works at the port and does the appraisels on things like this. He was called on this exact car and other like it. He wrote me and told me about others as well. To wit:

“Last month we got a 2007 Jaguar XKR coupe that had been stolen from the factory in Coventry in 2007. It was returned to Jaguar Land Rover. As they were self insured at the time of the theft. My contact there said it would be crushed. It was a liability to them because there is no record of the car ever having been serviced by an authorized Jag dealer. I found this one. The importer was trying to file a temporary non-resident entry. there was something I noticed in the paperwork that didn’t jive. The VIN number was missing a digit in the middle. I contacted Jaguar and gave the the serial part of the VIN. they came back with this, “Officer Johnson, thank you for contacting us. We’ve been looking for that car and two others since they were stolen on a Hijacked transporter on their way to be shipped to the Czech Republic in February of 2007. I really wish they wouldn’t crush it though. It would make a great club racer.

We caught a pristine 1965 VW transporter. When it was stolen thiry-five years ago it was a beater Hippy van. Alstate Insurance got it back in perfectly restored condition.

Same thing with a ’64 Stingray roadster. When it was stolen it was a beater. the owner’s insurance had lapsed. So the legal owner got it back. When we found it coming back from Japan. It had been restored to 90 points. It had the wrong wheel covers. And the red lined Tiger Paw tires were not original but period”.

I think it is great when customs/law-enforcement folks are able to recover stolen goods. I think likely, the general rule-of-thumb is that once a vehicle is stolen, it is quickly parted or well camouflaged (vin # fraud, etc,) or taken to the south of the border, where it is never recovered!

While I’ve never had a vehicle stolen, I have experienced extreme vandalism, on number of occasions. It’s a rotten thing to happen, either way… (I lost two excellent condition classic Mercedes-Benz sedans to such vandalism!)

I think folks should use high-tech means available to them, when the car in question happens to be a valuable, collector car, a high-priced import, etc., etc. In fact, the costs of such measures (GPS trackers,) has come down significantly and folks with even so-so cars can afford to use them.

If anyone is interested in finding out more about such electronic measures, most name-brand car dealers (Ford, Mercedes, Toyota, etc.,) should be able to suggest the best types/options available to consumers.

In fact, wouldn’t it be great if Hemmings Magazine were to do an article on the subject of GPS trackers and other counter-measures designed to thwart thieves?! How about it Hemmings?

Ron W You beat me to saying that I thought from what you can see in the pics 12K sounds about right (especially with no engine whatsoever – not even a rebuildable block for trade in). In the first pic it is obvious the whole spoiler panel is broken up. Also note how faded the headlight trim rings are and the big patch of bare galvanized metal at the top of the fender. From the rear view you can see how faded the car is. It apparently had a good polishing and shined up but the paint is badly faded as typical of red Porsches of the early 80s. I have a badly faded 83 944. A German mechanic told me that was typical of red Audies, VW, and Porches around that year. That does lead me to suspect it was not hidden in a container since 88. However I just looked back and saw it was a 76 stolen in 88 so it was already a 12 year old car. It easilly could have had over 112,000 miles on it, badly faded paint, and a worn out engine when it was stolen. If the interior, brakes, and all accessories are shot it will not be cheap to restore it. Wonder how much a proper complete turbo motor with all the accessories would cost? Perhaps it needs a new transmission as well. So 12 K may even be high for a car that needs everything.

Hopefully the thieves will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

My question for those putting money into a restoration on a stolen vehicle–why did you not get a title prior to beginning the restoration? This is a good example why I always demand a state-issued title as part of a vehicle purchase.

While I’ve never purchased a vehicle without a title, there’re many folks out there who do! Typically, this happens when the car is a parts-car, an estate car, etc. I think there’re companies (who advertise in Hemmings, for example,) who issue replacement titles for certain types of vehicles (i.e., very old vehicles, etc.)

Some restorable vehicles advertised online, as well as in variety of magazines also lack title-documentation (I suppose some people would lose their heads, if it weren’t attached to their bodies and well, so long as you’re provided with a legal sales receipt, from an established dealer or person, you should be fine; in the least, “covered,” where the law is concerned. I would stress the importance of establishing the clear identity of the person selling the vehicle as well as a sales-receipt, outlining the terms, purchase price, etc.)

A few years ago, I had an antiques and curiosities shop and I made sure that folks filled out a written receipt that stated that they were the legal owner of the item and that they had the legal right (no liens, contracts, etc.,) to sell that particular item. In such cases, I cannot stress enough, the importance of establishing clear-identity (valid drivers license, military identification card, passport, etc.) of the seller, along with other pertinent information (i.e., the serial number of the item, if applicable, or other identifying characteristics of the item, a quick digital picture, etc.)

Chances are while most folks are honest, the one time you omit to get a receipt, the item would turn out to have been stolen!

The down side of living in Missouri, is older cars do not need any documents to be scrapped out. I see old rebuildable classics off to the scrap yard to be crushed. when I lived on the west coast, anything with a VIN needed a junk slip to be scrapped. I wish we had that here. lots of stolen cars get parted and scrapped here that way.

another way thieves away with this is to strip (mostly late model) a car of its interior, then let it get recovered, where it usually gets totaled and auctioned off. the thieves simply scan all the auction sites for the VIN buy it back, and put it all back together.

Yes… well SOMEBODY out there has my 1956 Packard Caribbean convertible with factory air… stolen in SoCal in 2001… WITHOUT the VIN plate. And SOMEDAY…whomever has it will have a HUGE surprise awaiting them–no matter how many papers they may claim to have… and no matter how many years go by. I bought that car in the early 1970s and TOW-BARRED IT CROSS-COUNTRY when I was in college (YES, I have photos of the epic journey). All it needed at the time was a new paint job. A brand new top was even in the car along with thousands of dollars in parts.

I had a 7 month old 1964 Thunderbird (Fully Loaded, 4-track player, vinyl top and all) stolen right out of my LOCKED garage during the night as I slept! I had heard a “thump” during the night but was too tired to investigate! 45 years later I still get up every time I hear a “bumb in the night”. The car was never recovered and the insurance actually only covered about 70% as it was new enough that my bank loan with interest was higher than the value. Back then insurance only covered the cost of the vehicle and not loan balance. Several years later I had a BSA 440 Yellow Jacket motorcycle stolen but it was recovered the very next day with only the ignition damaged. Today I use a GPS disabling device on both my cars.

I’m glad to read that these random container searches pay off. But it’s worth noting that when a container is chosen for special examination, the shipper is expected to pay for it whether or not anything criminal turns up. It’s about $150.

After reading article and replies I did a search on electronics to block LoJack and GPS, yes they are out there. And if I remember correctly from a friend that worked with the FBI, Tennessee ONLY requires you have a pink slip (sales receipt) and you can get a valid title issued. Seems for each precaution one could take there is a counter.

TN has cracked down on sales receipt only title issues as you are now required to have a notary public sign off along with individual county tax collectors being more up on title weirdness. It used to be a little more loose especially if you had a current date and valid non-titled vehicle registration in someone’s name sold to you with a bill of sale. Some states didn’t or still don’t require titles on vehicles over certain ages or made before certain dates.

Same goes for the title reissue companies- one major company vaporized (and the owner went to jail) in the Cobra kit car title scandal that also took down Boyd Coddington.

I just bought a completely restiored 1958 red Plymouth Fury with the dual quad engine. Well, she was stolen last night, but before I could report it, she “came home”. she just showed up in my driveway, a little burned and there was what appeared to be blood on her grille, but I’m sure Christine will be just fine…really.